In this article I’ll introduce you the three players Luis Enrique called up until yet this season and also players who may deserve it more.

Everyone who follows La Masia & Barça B closely was sure that Sergi Samper, Grimaldo and Adama will escape hell that is the Segunda Division B. Luis Enrique counted on Sandro and Munir and did not explained Adama personally why he doesn’t count on him, which is why he left to Aston Villa. Adama played 2 games for Aston Villa so far and scored 1 goal in the League Cup and caused an own goal in the Premier League. He currently is injured and he was the driving force in the attack in 13/14 as well as 14/15, assisting his team-mates 18 times and scoring 8 times. Despite playing only 16 minutes in the Copa Del Rey against Huesca, he netted in 1 goal and completed 7 out of 7 dribbles.

Luis Enrique also doesn’t count on the left back Álex Grimaldo, who is on the edge of leaving to Benfica, since his contract expires after this season. He hasn’t been called up under Luis Enrique and did not train once with the first team under Luis Enrique so far. Grimaldo is a special type of left back who is rare. He has brilliant build-up play, like Dani Alves for example, good vision and a great shooting and passing technique. Luis Enrique however, trusts Adriano who is past his prime and plays questionably since 3 years now. Jeremy Mathieu is currently Jordi Alba’s main back-up. A player who can’t be more average than an average player. OK final ball, but lacks intelligence in the build-up play and can’t combine either.

And now to Sergi Samper, a player where everyone was sure, that he’ll make it at the first team, but now playing in the 3rd division of Spain, on bad pitches and against players who basically play football for fun and not for their career. Most of them lack intelligence, tactical understanding, technique and fouling like theres no tomorrow. It’s hard for the whole team to adapt to such a league, and Samper did not play on his standards in the first games, but played a great game against L’Hospitalet and he looks like the player we appreciate is back.He was – unlike Adama and Grimaldo – part of the preseason tour and he played an amazing game against L.A. Galaxy. And as a reward he did not got any minutes anymore and Luis Enrique choose Gumbau over him.

But who is that guy who played 3 years ago in the fifth tier of spain and now gave his debut in the Camp Nou?

Born in Campllong, Girona, Gumbau started his senior career at Girona ‘B’, debuting in the fifth league. He played 32 games for the Gironaistas, scoring 7 goals. After 2 years at Girona ‘B’ FC Barcelona has signed the young catalan for 3 years and the B team. In 2014/15 he played a disastrous season for the Barcelona ‘B’ and was one of a few players, alongside the two coaches (Eusebio and Vinyals) who have been “key” to the relegation of Barcelona ‘B’ to the Segunda Division – Grup III.

I wanted to name a few positives about Gumbau’s play but he honestely has no positives in his game. I watched him for over 40 games now and his performances is even to bad for the 3rd division. Luis Enrique said he is an interesting player, an he can play as a pivot, which would be suicide as he loses possession several times a game, most of the time in dangerous areas, he gets caught out of position constantly, he has bad decision making, as well as bad passing and vision. Lucho also added that he can play as an attacking player, which is also a very questionable statement, since Gumbau has no agility or dribbling ability, as well as already said bad decision making, bad dribbling and bad passing. His shooting from distance is also bad.

Juan Cámara:

Born in Jaén, Andalusia, he started his career at Villarreal C and after a year he played for Villarreal B, where he stayed for two years until he was signed by Barcelona in the 2014/15 season. Cámara was used as a central midfielder, as well as a left winger. He is OK as a midfielder, but nothing more than average, same goes for him as a left winger. He has a strong, powerful shot, but his accuracy is bad, as well as his decision making. In 80% of the time, where another player is in a better position he tries to shoot from a tight or impossible angle and either skies it, or shoots directly at the goalkeeper. OK squad player for Barcelona ‘B’, but far away from being called up for the first team.

José Aurelio Suárez:

The goalkeeper from Gijón, Luis Enrique’s home-town, played for his hometown club CD Roces until he moved to La Masia in 2011. After several years he gave his debut in January 2015, after Jordi Vinyals has suprisingly dropped Adrían Ortolá. He played 17 games for Barcelona ‘B’ and is now again the second-choice goalkeeper behind Ortolá under Gerard López. José Suárez is a good goalkeeper, even though I prefer Ortolá over him, since Suárez has beyond average ball distribution. Ortolá is not a perfect keeper-sweeper, but has better footwork than the 19 year young asturian and is in my opinion also better on the line, saving some impossible shots from distance as well as from short-range, but both of them are great goalkeepers.

Who should have been directly promoted to the first team at the start of the season?

• Sergi Samper: Samper’s natural position is the defensive midfield, a position that will be blocked for the next 5-6 years by Sergio Busquets, but Samper has something what Busquets does not have: the mobility, which is why Luis Enrique should have tried Samper in the pre-season as a central-midfielder but Lucho prefers a runner like Rakitic there, who can cover a lot of space. Even though Busquets blocks the position, Samper still could get minutes and can be called up since Luis Enrique currently uses Gumbau as a Busquets-replacement.

• Álex Grimaldo: Dani Alves on the left side. Has everything to succeed at the first team, apart from the trust of the first team coach and even though I’m very mad at the situation he’ll most likely leave after this season.

• Adama Traoré: An insane winger, physically miles above a lot of wingers in La Liga, miles above a lot of wingers in La Liga in terms of dribbling and he was Eusebio’s/Vinyals game-changer and was highly responsible of the success of Barcelona ‘B’ in the 2013/14 season. Why I was not happy how Eusebio used Adama can be read here: http://bit.ly/1yQL1bT

Players who deserve to train with the first team and should be tried out in Copa del Rey games / next season:

• David Babunski: David Babunski was benched for 2 years under Eusebio and Vinyals, despite being a very talented midfielder, with great dribbling, passing and vision. Now, under Gerard López he finally got the trust of a coach and the trust of the coach gets rewarded with great perfomances of the macedonian.

• Rodrigo Tarín: A bit too early to train with the first team regulary, but the first team coach next season should have an eye on the young centre-back. Despite not having the great passing technique of Robert Costa, he is reponsible to break up attacks of the opponent team several times a game, great positioning and intelligent when he drives forward.

• Godswill Ekpolo: The nigerian right-back came back after a horrific injury and is now fully fit and plays such a good season so far, that he made Gerard López to use Palencia as a LB, so Godswill can play his favorite position. Godswill, who can also play as a centre-back, is a special-type of full-back as he can defend very good and can be used as a defensive full-back or in a 3 at the back like his idol Eric Abidal. But only because he is a great defender it doesn’t mean he can’t go forward. His crosses are very accurate and he makes great runs. He also has a very powerful shot and he is very strong.

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